Flight of the Vigilant
by Argonaut57
Summary: In the dying days of 2155, the United Earth frigate 'Vigilant' is ambushed and destroyed on the edges of known space. The only survivors are a shuttle crew under the command of Lieutenant (jg) Diana Grassington. Under-supplied and unarmed, they begin the three-year trek to friendly space. Survival is unlikely, until they encounter a ship unlike any they have seen before...
1. Chapter 1

**Flight of the **_**Vigilant**_

1: Escape and Evade

_Shuttlepod UES Vig-1, Outer Rigel System , 29__th__ December 2155_

"Good first command, Lieutenant!" Chief Harrelson noted.

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Diana Grassington didn't turn to look at him -she was piloting the shuttle -but she allowed herself a snort of amusement.

"A coffee and cake run!" She said. "Hardly a command, Chief!"

"What counts is you got us and the ship back safe." He told her.

"From delivering a load of traditional Christmas puddings to a colony base." She replied.

"A new colony on the edge of known space." Harrelson pointed out. "Lieutenant, my family have been involved in StarFleet from the first, and before that with the Navy -the _Royal_ Navy, mind! One thing you have to do with space, same as the sea, is to respect it, and never trust it!

"I watched you the whole time. You were never sloppy, never took the job less than seriously and you were alert.

"Nothing went wrong, sure. But if it had, you were ready to deal with it. The captain knows that, which is why he only sent me along, rather than using a more experienced officer to command the mission with you as second."

It occurred to Diana that, with the possible exception of Captain Kamura himself, there was nobody on _Vigilant _more experienced than the veteran seated next to her. Before she could think of a way to say so without implying that he was past it, the comms system crackled into life.

"Mayday! Mayday!" It was the Captains' voice. "Any ship that can hear us! This is United Earth frigate _Vigilant_, we are under attack from unknown vessels. Large fleet. Warn the Rigel colony! We…." The rest was a burst of howling static.

Diana swung the shuttle around and opened the throttle wide. "Get Dave up here!" She told Harrelson. As the Chief moved back to the passenger compartment, Diana tried to call the colony. The shuttlepods comm unit wasn't as powerful as a real ships' outfit, but the colony had a big enough receiver. All she got was more static.

The skinny form of Ensign David Brockman slipped into the co-pilots' chair.

"What d'you need, Di?" He asked.

He should have addressed her by rank, but protocol be damned at the moment.

"I need to know why comms are out and what, if anything, might coming up behind us!" She said. "The sensors on this tub are pretty basic, and you're the nearest thing to a Science Officer I've got!"

"OK." Dave bent to the screens in front of him. "Well, comms are out because we're being jammed, big time! And there is a massive fleet coming up behind us, fast! We'll be in sensor range soon, if we aren't already!

"Asteroid field to port, if you think it might help."

"Thanks!" Diana said, and put the helm hard over, to the accompaniment of some thumps, bumps and muffled oaths from the rear. She shot in among the asteroids at full speed, twisting through them until she reached the thickest point, then bringing the shuttle to a sharp halt. She sat back, shaking, and let out a long breath.

David, apparently unperturbed, noted. "If we had another coat of paint on this thing, we wouldn't have got through, you realise?"

"Do you actually have a nervous system?" Diana asked him.

"If by that you mean the part of me that's silently screaming, yes." He told her. "But screaming out loud in a small cabin would give us both a headache, so I'll save that for later."

Diana felt the urge to laugh uncontrollably, recognised it for what it was, and held it to a chuckle before activating the intercom.

"Everyone OK back there?" She asked.

The reply came in the measured tones of their Vulcan passenger, Dr Synak.

"A few minor contusions, and my grasp of Standard English has been expanded in an unexpected direction. Otherwise, all is well."

"Right!" Diana took another deep breath, got to her feet, prayed she wouldn't throw up, and opened the door.

-XXXX-

There were six of them, altogether. Herself, of course, all too aware of her gawky height, blonde hair and English Rose looks. Dave, skinny, dark of hair, pale of skin, with a great beak of a nose and restless, intelligent eyes. Chief Harrelson, stocky, grizzled, with a blunt face lined with experience and tanned from the sun of too many worlds. These she knew. The others not so well.

Midshipman Gerry Baker, still technically an Academy student, serving his half-year tour before deciding which branch to specialise in. He was tall and built on heroic lines, ebony-skinned and easy-going, but he hadn't been around long enough for Diana to know much more than that.

Corporal Freya Tomori, one of the half-dozen MACO troops assigned to _Vigilant_, was also an unknown quantity. The MACOs didn't mix often with the Starfleet crew, as they had no role to play in day-to-day ships operations, so tended to stay out of the way. Tomori combined the tall, rawboned build of a Norwegian mother with the dark hair and Asian features of a Japanese father.

Finally, Dr Synak, of the Inter-Species Medical Exchange. Like all Vulcans, he was on the tall side, with a gaunt, wiry frame and a thin, harsh-planed face. His face was unlined and his movements vigorous, but he could be anything between twenty and seventy years old. He'd been serving as a medical practitioner on the Rigel colony until a qualified Human doctor had arrived, but the Vulcan hospital ship that was to have picked him up had been diverted to a major incident on another colony. The High Council had asked _Vigilant_ to transport Synak to join his ship, hence his presence on this shuttle.

"OK," Diana said, "OK. _Vigilant _is in trouble, maybe destroyed, and we're stuck here in an unarmed, sub-light shuttle with no shields and a big hostile fleet in the area. Chief Harrelson, as the most experienced member of the crew, I request you take command."

"Request denied, Lieutenant." Harrelson snapped. "You're the ranking officer here. Do your damned job!"

His tone was the cold shower Diana needed. She'd been acting on instinct and adrenalin up to now. Harrelsons' reaction shocked her into starting to think.

"Right then, on your own head be it, Chief!" She retorted. "Dave, let me know when that fleet is out of sensor range. Once it is, we head back to _Vigilants'_ last known position. She may be just crippled, there could be survivors. Even if the worst has happened, we still need to retrieve the Disaster Buoy, because it will have the log in it.

"After that, we have to try and make our way to where we can contact friendlies, while avoiding contact with hostiles. Any thoughts?"

"I'll take a look at the engines." Baker said. "I'm kinda good with things like that. I might find a way to get a bit more distance or speed out of them."

"I'll check on supplies." Harrelson said.

"I might be able to help on tactics." Tomori added. "MACOs are trained in escape and evasion."

"Thanks." Diana said. "Let's get going."

-XXXX-

_Vigilant _was lost with all hands, that much was painfully clear. The main hull still held its shape, but had been holed so often and so badly that it looked like lace. Both nacelles had been sheered off, and the single phased-plasma cannon floated free of the wreckage. Nearby floated the remains of the ships' other shuttle, blasted to smithereens.

"They obviously didn't want any survivors." Harrelson said. "Wonder who they were? Orions, maybe?"

Diana shook her head. "The Orions are crooks. Pirates, smugglers and traders. The Syndicate isn't an empire. The fleet that went past us was an invasion fleet, not a raiding squadron.

"Dave? Shed any light?"

"Well, not all that wreckage is from the _Vigilant_." Was the reply. Too much of it., and some of it isn't UE standard. This set-up isn't that precise, but I'd say that there are at least two other ships there. Both alien. A frigate and a corvette, I'd guess. Looks like our guys got some licks in!

"I've got the buoy, by the way. How do we haul it in?"

This is a cargo shuttle, remember?" Harrelson told him. "There's a handling arm out back, if the Lieutenant can get us close enough -and she can – I can pull it into the hold."

-XXXX-

The log made grim viewing. The hostile fleet had dropped out of warp dangerously close to the _Vigilant_ and attacked immediately. There were at least a hundred and fifty vessels. Crude-looking, but fast and heavily-armed, nothing bigger than a destroyer apart from some that hung back from the fight. The _Vigilant_ had been swarmed, and despite taking out two enemy ships, she had gone down under a hail of missile and disruptor fire.

"She wasn't built for that kind of fight." Harrelson said. "A frigate is supposed to hit and run, not stand and hold.

"So, what now, Lieutenant?"

"Now we head for the nearest friendly ship, station or planet we can find." Diana said. "Somebody, somewhere, needs to see this log!"

"The nearest world is the Vulcan colony on Kanolos Beta III." Synak said. "That is some three years away at light speed."

"We don't have the fuel for that." Dave pointed out. "Why not head back to Rigel and take a look? There's worse things than being a PoW. Like being dead!"

"These guys don't take prisoners, Dave." Diana told him. "You saw what they did to that shuttle! But they may have moved on by now…."

"No." This was Tomori. "Those ships that were at the back of their fleet? They were drop-ships for ground assault. That was an invasion fleet. If I had to guess, the Rigel colony is going to be a beachhead or staging area for a bigger assault. Not only will that fleet still be there, they'll probably be waiting for reinforcements!"

"Shit!" Diana said. "Any more bad news, anyone?"

"I got some news, but not so bad." Baker volunteered. "I took a look at the engines. I can rig them so they pop out less ionic mass, but at higher speed. Kinda like thinning the mix on an old internal combustion engine? Takes us longer to accelerate, but we get the same speed for about half the fuel. Gives us the juice, just, to reach the Vulcans."

"It will also," Dave remarked, "leave a thinner ion trail in case anyone from that fleet decides to come and look for survivors or escapees. One for the midshipman!"

"Which leaves the question of food." Harrelson said. "We got half a hold full of produce the people on Rigel gave us in return for what we delivered. If we turn the heat in the hold way down, we can keep it fresh, but not forever. Plus we got emergency rations for a full crew for six months. However you cut it, we're gonna get hungry!"

"Hmm. If we come across a Class M planet on the way, it could be worth detouring to pick up food." Diana said. "But we'll think about that, when we come to it. The shipping lanes get thicker as we get nearer Kanolos Beta, so there's always a chance we'll find a freighter or maybe a Coalition vessel first.

"Either way, we don't really have a choice. Let's get going."

-XXXX-

_Shuttlepod UES Vig-1, Interstellar Space, 14__th__ March 2156_

Diana was sick of the taste of Rigellian potatoes. Not that they were bad potatoes -the Rigellian soil chemistry imparted a slightly spicy flavour you didn't find in Terran vegetables -but three months of them with the single meal they took each day left her craving for rice or pasta, or even bread!

She wasn't the only one, either. Dave was having all he could do to choke them down, and even Gerry was grimacing each time he saw them. The Chief was stoic, Synak didn't seem to care what he ate and Freya had told them that nothing could be worse than MACO food.

There were other problems. The shuttle did have washing facilities, and thanks to the advanced recycling system, there was no lack of water -the air scrubbers even extracted the minute amounts of moisture from every exhalation. Everyone did their best, but there was not much to be done about clothes. Diana was increasingly aware both of herself and her crewmates, so it must be torture for Synak, whose sense of smell was keener. Especially since Vulcans were known not to like the smell of even clean Humans!

They were bored as well. Even the stars don't hold much interest when you're ploughing through them at the crawl that was light speed. The shuttles' computer had a small selection of games, videos and books, and they had a deck of cards, but there was only so much of those entertainments that could sustain the interest of people with naturally active minds. They hadn't started to bicker yet, but it would come, if Diana couldn't think of a way to head it off.

She was at the helm – the only job that had to be done for the whole day, even if it was just sitting there -when Freya settled her long frame into the seat beside her.

"Hey." She said. "The boys are playing poker again, so I thought I'd leave them to it. I'm not much on cards and I can't meditate all day like Synak. Mind if I sit with you awhile?"

"_Mi casa, su casa_." Diana told her. "Makes a change to talk to a MACO, you don't usually mix with the rest of us. What is that? Some kind of ground-pounder versus flyboy kind of thing?"

"Uh-uh." Freya shook her head. "Small ship protocol, they call it. When you've got a frigate, or even a destroyer, the whole crew are either working or sleeping, right? Not much downtime and no social spaces except the mess hall. On the big Warp 5 ships, they work a three-shift system, and they've got a gym and a lounge as well as the mess hall. So there's people about to hang with and talk to, right? But on the mall ships, well, we get orders to stay in our quarters and not get underfoot. Don't want to get in the way of guys with jobs to do, and they don't want to see us sitting around idle, it pisses them off."

"Guess you're right." Diana said. "Never thought of it like that. So how'd you become a MACO anyway? I mean you personally?"

"Born to it I suppose." Freya said. "My dad was a MACO -he was on _Enterprise_ when Archer went looking for the Xindi. Mom was on the crew, that's where they met. So I was always going to be Starfleet or a MACO. When it came down to it, I'm a good shot, I can kick ass and I have a knack for tactics, but no head for all the tech stuff you need for fleet. So here I am, making my folks proud!

"What about you? You're English, right? You try to hide it, but your accent gives it away."

Diana sighed. "Not trying to hide the fact I'm English, just the kind of English I am! Allow me to introduce you to the Honourable Diana Grassington, daughter and second child of Lord Harry Grassington, 57th Baron Drakemore, and Lady Amelia!"

"Oh, wow!" Freya laughed. "Do I curtsey now?"

"If you do, I'll get Gerry to throw you out of the airlock!" Diana promised. "Trouble is, the English aristocracy don't breed for brains. They breed for an utter lack of fear and the ability to stick on a horse as if you were born there. Now I'm fine with the horse thing, I was always athletic, but somehow I got an IQ just this side of genius. Did really well at school.

"That drove Mummy frantic. She couldn't see how her bluestocking daughter was going to make a decent marriage!"

"Bluestocking?" Freya asked.

"Old word for an intellectual woman." Diana explained. "Anyway, Mummy was all set to pack me off to a finishing school, to make a 'proper' lady of me, when Daddy put his foot down and asked if I wanted to go to University. When I told him I was more interested in science and space than in traditional academics, he suggested the Academy. I passed the exams and got in. Mummy was furious, but for once Daddy told her to pipe down.

"He told her he was a 'beef-witted English squire' and so was Peter – that's my big brother, who's very sweet, but a bit dim – but that I had some brains and he was damned if he'd see them wasted on some other half-wit with a title.

"'Off you go, darling,' he told me, 'Work hard, have fun, and bring something nice for your mother when you come home'. He says just the same thing every time I leave; he said it just before I joined _Vigilant_."

She fell silent. She'd never said as much to anyone before, but something about Freya made her feel safe to confide. The silence wasn't awkward, though. Then Freya leaned forward.

"I'm no expert," she said, "but I think there's something on the sensors, dead ahead. Should I go get Dave?"

"Please." Diana said.

Dave settled himself in and studied the readouts.

"It's a ship." He said finally. "But I've got no idea what kind or who it belongs to. A little bigger than an NX. There's a power source, but I can't tell what kind. Not a singularity like a Vulcan ship, or matter-antimatter like ours. No life signs. I think it's adrift. Can't tell much else, except the life support systems seem to be similar to ours in terms of environment.

"Should be in visual range soon."

The ship was indeed around 230 metres long - a little longer than an NX-class ship. The main hull was long and slender, coming to a point at what seemed to be the bow. The stern, by contrast, was a glowing green globe. Just forward of the globe, there was a kind of collar around the hull from which three equally-spaced pylons extended. These sloped out toward the bow, and supported nacelles with rounded rear sections and pointed forward ones.

"It seems to be operational, but adrift and un-crewed." Dave confirmed. "Some kind of computer activity on board….We're being scanned!"

"Any hostile activity?" Diana asked.

"No weapons active as far as I can tell….Wait! There, amidships! I think it just opened a shuttle bay!"

"Are we being invited inside, I wonder?" Diana said.

"Or baited into a trap?" This was Harrelson, who with the rest, was crowded into the doorway to watch.

"Hold on, we're being hailed!" Diana said.

The voice that came from the speaker was a clear and measured tenor. "_Vigilant_ crew, this is Deep Space Vehicle Four. I have become separated from the System and require assistance to return. My reading of your logs indicates that you are also in need of assistance. Perhaps we can come to a mutually-beneficial agreement?"

"Are you the captain?" Diana asked.

"Negative." Was the reply. "I am a Limited Artificial Intelligence responsible for co-ordinating the ships' functions. You may designate me Zen. My programming is prescriptive and I cannot perform fully without instructions from an organic commander. This includes offensive and defensive operations. You may dock your craft in the bay I have opened and come to the bridge, where we can discuss the matter more fully. I will await your arrival."

"Opinions?" Diana asked.

"If it's a trap, it's an over-complicated one." Freya noted. "That ship could have destroyed this shuttle, or crippled it and dragged it into that bay – it must have a tractor beam or grapple. No need to invite us on board, armed and aware, unless it doesn't mean us any harm."

"We still need to be careful." Harrelson put in.

"You're both right." Diana said. "But remember, this is what Starfleet is for, making contact with new species. I think we need to board and take a look."

"Logically, we have little choice." Synak noted. "Should we try to leave, that ship could easily catch us. Also, in our current state, we are unlikely to survive to reach our destination."

"He's right." Harrelson said. "A lot of the Rigellian food couldn't be frozen -we had to ditch some of it, you remember – and we haven't come anywhere near a planet we could forage from, even if we could spare the fuel to divert there."

"OK." Diana decided. "We're going in!"

Supressing a feeling of trepidation, she moved the shuttle toward the open port.


	2. Chapter 2

**Flight of the **_**Vigilant**_

2: Quid Pro Quo

_Unknown vessel, Interstellar Space, 14__th__ March 2156_

The bay Diana carefully piloted the shuttle into could have housed half-a-dozen shuttles. The door did not close behind them, but a magnetic field was raised as soon as they passed it.

"We could fly out right through that." Dave noted. "Seems as if they don't mind us leaving. The bay is now pressurised. Atmosphere nitrogen/oxygen, almost like Earth. Outside temperature around 20 Celsius -we won't be cold."

"OK, let's take a look." Diana decided.

This was very different from a UE ship. The lights were a little brighter, for one thing. For another, the walls, floors and other surfaces were white, rather than the gunmetal grey they were used to. Consoles, tables and benches were arranged around the bay, and there were shelves, racks, bins and lockers on and along the walls.

"Maintenance area." Gerry noted. "Might be worth staying here for a while to see if they have anything I could use to refuel and maybe upgrade the shuttle!"

"I take it," Dave commented, "that your preference will be Engineering Branch."

"Absolutely!" Gerry remarked. "If I can get round all the tutors and lecturers trying to push me into Security!"

"They always do that with the big lads." The Chief admitted. "Bit old-fashioned, I always thought."

"I would have said 'atavistic'." Synak remarked. "During our recent experiences, Mr Baker has exhibited an impressive grasp of Engineering principles and techniques. He would be wasted guarding doorways."

"Thanks, Doc." Gerry said.

"That was not a compliment, merely a statement of fact." Synak told him. "At the Vulcan Academy, we do not assess students on the basis of their size, however imposing."

"Your attention, please!" This was the measured voice they had heard before. "Please follow the lights on the floor to the bridge."

"Right!" Diana said. "We only have three phase pistols – mine, the Chiefs' and Freyas' -so the rest of you will just have to duck and cover if we get ambushed. Freya, take point; Chief, guard the rear. I'll stay with the others.

"Let's get going!"

-XXXX-

It was quite a walk. The ship might have been the same length as an NX-class, but it was certainly more massive and had more decks.

"Where are the crew?" Gerry asked. "Ship this big must need a couple hundred at least!"

"You think?" Dave countered. "Look around, pal! This is way more advanced than anything in the Coalition. Plus, if that voice is what it says it is, an Artificial Intelligence, it could be capable of running most of the ships' functions on its' own!"

"You'll excuse me for finding that spooky." Diana commented.

"It is, nonetheless, efficient." Synak noted. "Such technology would substantially reduce the risk to life involved in space exploration."

"And take all the fun out of it!" The Chief added.

It was at this point that they reached the bridge.

"Are these individuals having fun?" Synak asked.

The bridge was a high, roughly circular room, with six consoles arranged at various points, facing a large window/viewscreen. Set into the wall beside this screen was a large green-brown globe on which patterns of light appeared and disappeared.

However, what drew the crews' attention were the six bodies around the bridge. Some sat at the consoles, others sprawled on the floor near them. Synak stooped to the nearest.

"Dead less than six hours" He said, studying his medical tricorder. "Rigor has not yet sent in. Cause of death unknown."

There were three women and three men, Diana noticed. All very similar to Humans, but unusually tall and slender, and all dressed identically in form-fitting bodysuits.

"They were the original crew." This was the voice of Zen. Diana looked around and suddenly a complex pattern of lights flashed on the brown globe, drawing everyones' attention.

"Your species prefers a visual reference point. This will serve. Welcome, Lt Diana Grassington, Ensign David Brockman, Midshipman Gerald Baker, Chief Petty Officer Alan Harrelson, Corporal Freya Tomori and Doctor Synak. I have downloaded your crew manifest from the computer aboard your shuttlepod.

"This Deep Space Vehicle was designed by The System for exploration, trade, research and defence. Approximately five hours ago, we encountered a wormhole. During investigation, we approached too closely and were drawn in. The ship suffered some damage, but passage through proved fatal to the crew. This vessel is capable of self-repair, but I am unable to go anywhere without orders from a living crew.

"I detected your vessel and now invite you to become the crew."

"You said something about an arrangement?" Diana asked.

"Yes." Zen replied. "This vessel must remain adrift unless crewed. Scans and calculations show that another wormhole similar to the one it came through will appear in some three weeks' time at a location some distance from here. This vessel must report to The System so that such incidents are not repeated.

"According to the logs on your shuttle, your Space-Warp ship was destroyed by enemy action. The shuttle has no translight drive and few supplies. You will not survive long enough to reach friendly space.

"Also, according to the communications I have been monitoring, the group of races you call the Coalition is now in a state of war with another group, calling itself the Romulan Star Empire.

"My proposal is that over the next weeks, you may make such use of this vessels' capabilities as you wish in order to aid your Coalition. I will also assist in reconfiguring your shuttle in a way which will make it possible for you to reach Coalition space.

"In return, you will pilot the ship to the location of the wormhole at the proper time, and order me to take it through before leaving.

"I cannot permit you to hand this ship over to your Coalition, as inbuilt Security protocols will trigger a self-destruct in such a scenario. I also cannot permit you to take any data which may constitute a threat to the security of The System. That includes the specifications for this vessel, its drives, defensive systems and weaponry."

"I understand that precaution." Diana allowed. "But what's to stop you gathering intel on the Coalition and taking it back to this System of yours?"

"There would be no purpose in doing so." Zen told her. "The System is located in what you call the Epsilon Quadrant, so a war between us would be logistically impossible for several centuries at least. However, the Security programming for this vessel is hard-wired, and cannot be over-ridden, which is why I had to warn you.

"As to any agreement, you need not decide immediately. You and your crew are tired, hungry and in need of clean clothing. I will direct you to the Crew Quarters, where you will find cabins, food is available in the Mess Hall. The ship carries goods for trade, and clothing appropriate for many species can be found in the Cargo Section.

"When you have eaten and rested, return here and we will talk again."

"Right!" Diana said. "Cargo Section first! I don't know about the rest of you, but I want to get out of these clothes before they start developing language skills!"

-XXX-

There were six cabins, and Dr Synak was mildly puzzled by the elation the Humans expressed at this.

"I understand that Humans need private space as much as Vulcans do." He noted. "Yet you are all reacting as if this were some kind of privilege?"

"It is, at our level!" Dave told him. "To get your own cabin on a Starfleet ship, even one of the big ones, you have to be at least a Lieutenant-Commander. Lieutenants, Petty Officers, Ensigns and Midshipmen have to share cabins with three or four of the same rank."

"Same applies to MACO NCOs." Freya added. "The troopers and the Starfleet crewmen sleep barracks style."

"Remarkable." Synak commented. "On Vulcan vessels, each crew member has their own space, though quite generally it contains only a cot and a footlocker."

"Well, we all have our own cabins for the moment, anyway." Diana said. "I really hope they come with showers! OK, people, wash up and change, then meet in the Mess Hall!"

The cabins did have showers, and when Diana came out of hers, she noted that all the others did so at about the same time, indicating that she wasn't the only one who had indulged for slightly longer than necessary. The exception was, of course, Synak, who was waiting for them in the Mess Hall. Diana realised that while all the Starfleet personnel had chosen outfits that were basically similar to their normal uniforms, Synak had appropriated garments that resembled traditional Vulcan robes.

"The food dispensers here are quite remarkable." He told them. "It seems that they can synthesise comestibles to suit almost all metabolic types and produce reasonable approximations of local dishes." He gestured at the steaming bowl in front of him. "This is a very acceptable facsimile of Vulcan plomik soup, for instance. I do not recommend trying it, most Humans find it unpalatable."

Diana found herself something that looked and tasted like spaghetti bolognaise. Dave chose a chicken-like dish, Freya had something resembling fish with rice, Gerry was squaring up to a large dish of what smelled like beef casserole, while the Chief contented himself with what seemed to be a multi-storey burger. For a good while, nobody talked.

Finally, though, the question had to be asked.

"So, are we guests or prisoners?" The Chief wondered.

Dave seemed to be quoting something when he replied. "If this is prison, chain me to the wall!"

Everyone except, of course, Synak, laughed, but then Gerry said.

"I don't think we're either. I think that computer – Zen – is telling the truth. I think this ship needs us!"

"Go on." Diana invited.

Gerry shrugged. "It's like Dave said, if Zen is an AI, why not just fly the ship home? I'm a nuts and bolts man, I don't do software, so I don't know what the limits of AI software could or would be. But I wouldn't want a smart ship running around loose without at least one real person aboard to make decisions."

"The midshipman is correct." Synak noted. "However complex an AI might be, there will always be subtleties of organic behaviour it will never grasp.

"Furthermore, the amount of cargo aboard, the presence of social spaces such as this, which is much larger than a crew of six would require, and the ability of the ship to provide food for many different species, all point to a vessel which has a commercial and diplomatic role, rather than a purely military one."

"If they just want to take prisoners, or collect specimens, this is a very elaborate way to do it." Freya pointed out. "As we've said before, they could have just scooped us up!"

"Why not just put out a distress call?" The Chief wanted to know.

"You heard Zen." Diana said. "A distress call would bring a full ship and crew. They'd take one look at the dead crew and treat this ship as salvage. Probably that security protocol would kick in, and bang!"

"The ships' AI is programmed to survive, if it can." Gerry said. "I don't care what kind of social and economic set-up you have, a ship like this is a significant investment of time and energy. You don't let something like that go easy."

"Right!" Diana said. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I need a good nights' sleep before I do anything else. Everybody turn in. We'll decide in the morning."

-XXXX-

The following day, after a short and decisive conversation, they made their way back to the bridge.

"OK, Zen." Diana said. "We're prepared to accept your bargain. But as a sign of good faith, we need something from you.

"But first, what happened to the bodies of the former crew?"

"I moved them." This was not Zen, but Synak. "I came here some hours ago -Vulcans do not require as much sleep as Humans because of our meditation practices – Zen informed me as to the location of the ships' Sickbay, and I took them there to place them in stasis."

"Dr Synak is correct." Zen said. "We agreed that the bodies would soon begin to decay and should be moved."

"Fair enough." Diana said. "Dr Synak, I know you're not officially under my command, but in future please inform me if you intend to do anything like this."

"Understood, and I apologise." Synak replied.

"What is it you need from me, Lieutenant?" Zen asked.

"Intel." Diana said. "You told us that the Coalition was under attack by a race called Romulans. I need to see everything you have on these Romulans first. After that, we'll see how we can help each other!"

-XXXX-

Zen led Diana to a room he called the Information Centre. It seemed that all the data the ship and its crew collected was transferred here to be catalogued and collated. The bulk of it, of course, concerned the Epsilon Quadrant and while it might have been fascinating, Diana had more immediate concerns.

This ship appeared to be equipped with a sensor and communications array far superior to that of a United Earth or Coalition ship, but it still had limits, and could not reach into Coalition space proper. From what Diana could glean from this sector, the Romulans had attacked on a broad front, quickly overrunning the thinly-populated verges of Coalition space, then come to a halt. It seemed they had run into heavy resistance further in, and were now consolidating around four or five key locations, from which they were launching probing attacks while building up their forces.

"Where are they getting all these ships?" She wondered. "Any civilisation that could send out a force this big can't have stayed out of sight all these years!"

"It is notable," Zen told her, "that the majority of the ships in the Romulan force are small. What you would call fighters, corvettes and frigates. The proportion of capital ships to smaller ones is much lower than that in any other fleet the System has encountered."

"Odd." Diana mused. "Have you logged Romulan communications?"

"Yes." Was the reply. "Unfortunately, Coalition communications are currently beyond my range."

"Doesn't matter." Diana said. "Show me the Romulan ones, please."

It took her a few minutes to see it, but:

"Something's off here." She concluded. "See, there's orders being transmitted, which you'd expect. There's periods of radio silence as well. But the orders – in fact all the comms – are between the capital ships. Even the general chatter -there's always some, even in a war -is between capital and support ships -cruisers, destroyers and the troop transports. None of the small ships are talking to anyone!"

"They are receiving communications." Zen informed her. "Micro-bursts of highly-compressed data that I can neither translate nor decrypt. They care also transmitting real-time data from their sensors."

"Like probes." Diana replied. "I wonder…."

She got up, it was time to head back. As she made her way down one of the corridors, Freya popped out of room and spotted her.

"Di, you need to come see this!" She said.

It was a relatively small room, with a console in the centre and a platform at the end. Next to the console was a rack containing a number of black bracelet devices.

"If I had to guess," Diana said, "I'd say this is some sort of Transporter technology. They use these to load cargo on the bigger UE ships."

"I know. " Freya said. "Zen calls this the Teleport Chamber, and apparently it's safe for people to use! This ship is designed for a small crew, so it doesn't carry a shuttle. They use this instead. Those bracelets are a combination communicator and teleport beacon. You teleport out from here, and as long as you're wearing the bracelet, the ship has a lock on you and can yank you right back if necessary."

"Well, that might come in handy!" Diana allowed.

"There's more." Freya put a hand on her shoulder and led her over to a corner. There was another rack here, with black handles protruding from circular holes. Long, coiled wires extended from the ends of the handles, terminating in some kind of jack or plug. Below there was another rack holding belts which supported holsters and cubical packs of some kind.

"Take one." Freya said. Dian did so, to find that the handle supported a series of crystal discs which in turn sprouted a rod of the same material.

"They look like weapons." Diana said.

Freya nodded. "Zen calls them 'neutron blasters'. You plug the jack into the cube on the belt, which is a power-pack, and carry it in the holster. Try to take another while you're holding that one."

Diana tried. "Ow!" She said, pulling her hand back. "Hot!"

Freya chuckled. "Security measure. Nobody can take more than one of them at a time. There's another rack on the bridge."

"So you thought you'd demonstrate rather than just tell me?" Diana said. "Thanks ever so!"

They were facing each other now. Freyas' hand was still on Dianas' shoulder, and they were close enough to feel the warmth of each other's bodies. Their eyes locked, blue on brown, for a moment. Then Diana said softly. "We'd best get back to the others."

"We should." Freya agreed. She gave Dianas' shoulder a gentle squeeze, then turned to go.

"We'll talk later." Diana promised.

"I know." Freya replied with a smile.

-XXXX-

"OK." Freya said. "There's things we need to find out about these Romulans. Starfleet may already have figured them out, but I'm not going to take that as read. So we gather all the intel we can.

"Also, if we get the chance to do some damage, we will. We've got three weeks before this ship needs to hit that wormhole, so it's going to be a steep learning curve, everyone.

"Zen, start us off!"

"I have reconfigured the displays on the consoles to your language, and, as much as possible, to layouts you are familiar with." Zen announced. "There are six consoles: Command, Operations, Sensors, Tactical, Engineering and Pilot. The pilot console is only needed during sub-light manoeuvres or combat."

"Understood." Diana said. "I suppose I'm stuck with Command. Chief, you take Ops. Gerry, Engineering. Freya on Tactical. Dave, you're the only other qualified pilot, so you need to take Pilotage, which means I have to ask you, Doctor, to take the Sensor station."

"Not so good!" Dave warned. "I'm only a Class 2 pilot, Di."

"Unnecessary." Synak put in. "I am a Class 1 pilot, trained at the Vulcan Space Academy. On the other hand, Ensign Brockman is clearly better-qualified than I to handle the Sensors."

"How does a doctor become a pilot?" The Chief wondered.

"All Vulcan doctors serving off-world are pilot trained." Synak told him. "Even in space, it is sometimes necessary to make house-calls."

"Did you just make a joke?" Gerry wondered.

"Sometimes, humour is the only logical response." Synak replied, deadpan.

"All right." Diana said. "Then it's Dave on Sensors, and the doctor on Pilot."

"Navigation computers online. State course and speed." Zen said.

"The Myrmidon System." Diana said. "There's a Romulan staging area there. Ships stop off to get orders for their final destination, there's never too many at one time. Also, there's a nice big dust cloud in the system that our sensors can penetrate, but theirs can't. I want to get a good look at these guys before we do anything else.

"Take us there, as close as we can get while still in the cloud. Speed Warp Three."

"Speed Standard by three, acknowledged. ETA two hours." Zen said.

"How fast can this thing go?" The Chief asked.

"Maximum velocity on ships' drives alone is Standard by ten. Warp Ten in your terminology." Zen answered. "But this drains energy banks at an accelerated rate and is not sustainable. Use of Slipstream Portals allows faster travel, but you do not have that technology."

"That's on the Transwarp Barrier!" Dave said.

"Useful to know, if we need to make a quick sprint!" Freya remarked.

"There is one more requirement." Zen said. "It is important in your cultures that a ship should have a name. The designation Deep Space Vehicle Four does not satisfy this.

"What would you want to name this vessel?"

Daves' immediate response of "Shippy McShipface" brought laughs and groans, but there was really only one answer, and they all knew it.

"_Vigilant_." Diana said. "Now, let's get going!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Flight of the **_**Vigilant**_

Three: Behind Enemy Lines

The new _Vigilants_' sensor array punched through the ionised dust cloud as if it were tissue paper.

"We have a base on Myrmidon Three." Dave reported. "Basic communications, heavy ground defences and a patrol on station in orbit.

"Since we've been here, two Romulan squadrons have come in. Both composed of a cruiser, two destroyers and four frigates. As far as I can make out, all the larger ships have a number of smaller ones -the corvettes and fighters -attached to the hulls."

"Makes sense." Gerry noted. "The small ships won't have any kind of warp drive. The bigger ships would need to carry them. But why not use specialised carriers?."

"Same reason the wet navies stopped using them after World War Three." Diana said. "Once you have any kind of smart missile, a carrier is so much floating scrap metal. Too big to miss, and they pretty much have to stay put so the pilots can find them again.

"What else are you getting, Dave?"

"Comms chatter." He replied. "Situation reports, the usual 'how's it going' chat and orders."

"Orders?" The Chief asked. "Don't they know what they're doing?"

"Apparently not." Dave told him. "They get ordered to come here, and the next lot of orders are issued when they arrive."

"What kind of orders?" Diana wanted to know.

"Co-ordinates for staging areas." Dave said. "They seem to be assembling three big fleets at key points for a final assault on the Coalition. Hold on a moment...Dammit!" He turned to Diana. "By the look of it, those fleets are positioned to make direct and simultaneous runs on Earth, Vulcan and Andoria."

"Ouch!" Freya said. "That means that all the Coalition fleets will pull back to defend their homeworlds. They won't be working together. The Romulans can deal with us piecemeal."

"We have to get this to the Coalition!" Diana gritted. "Zen, what's the maximum range for the comms outfit on this ship?"

"We are several days out of range for conventional communications." Zen replied. "And we would need to go deep into hostile territory. If we could obtain the use of a planetary array, however, the ship could further boost the signal."

"I see." Diana said. "But just how do we do that?"

"Find a colony." The Chief said. "There were several Coalition colonies in this sector. I'll bet the Romulans haven't had time to occupy and set up heavy defences on all of them. We just need to find one they aren't guarding heavily or at all."

"Won't they have wrecked the comms gear on the ones they haven't occupied?" Freya asked.

"Probably." Gerry allowed. "But unless they've totally demolished it, Dave and I can fix it!"

"OK." Diana said. "We've learned all we can here. Pull us back into the cloud a bit further, and let's start looking for colonies!"

-XXXX-

"This one looks like our best bet." Chief Harrelson said the following day. "Small Tellarite colony, two days away at Warp Five."

"What were your search parameters?" Synak asked.

"Well, we discarded military bases, for obvious reasons." The Chief told him. "Also, large commercial concerns like mining, manufacturing or agricultural colonies. We concentrated on private charter colonies. Those are usually smaller, and not strategically important. Most of them don't have heavy defences, but they are required by law to have up-to-date communications, even if they only use them for emergencies.

"The private charter colonists tend to be the ones who head further out. A lot of them are based around shared attitudes or philosophies, most of which involve rejection of modern lifestyles.

"This particular one, Corybantes Two, was founded by a group from a Tellarite movement calling themselves 'the Children of Zav'. Seems they're an anti-tech group who want to live in a pastoral society. There are Humans like that."

"There are Vulcans and, I believe, Andorians who share similar ideologies." Synak noted.

"Worth a look, then." Diana decided. "But before we go into anything, Freya, what are our combat capabilities?"

"Well, this isn't primarily a warship." Freya told them. "But it is designed for exploration, so it's better armed than a freighter. There's a suite of battle computers to analyse enemy capabilities, make tactical recommendations and conduct electronic and cyber warfare. There's some kind of force field, a force wall, Zen calls it, that can block both kinetic and energy attacks. The hull is made of something called 'herculaneum' which isn't quite as hard as the new duranium alloy, but is lighter.

"As for weapons, the main armament is something called a Neutron Blaster. Basically a particle beam of some kind with more punch than our phased plasma weapons. Then there are Seeker missiles – small kinetic weapons that lock onto and pursue a target. They're meant to be launched in clusters, we have about a hundred, and the ship can manufacture more if needed, but it takes time. Finally, there are ten heavy-megatonnage nuclear missiles that are designed to bore in and explode inside the target. Zen tells me they're mainly intended for clearing navigation hazards like big asteroids, but they can be used for surface bombardment. But the ship can't make any more of them.

"The main factor is that extended combat will drain the energy banks. The ship is designed to defend itself until it can get clear, not stand and fight for a sustained period. The banks will recharge, but obviously more slowly than they drain."

"Fingers crossed we don't have to, then." Diana said. "OK, we'll take a look at Corybantes Two and decide what we're going to do once we know what we're getting into.

"Let's get going!"

XXXX

Freya propped herself up on her elbow and looked down at Diana.

"So is this why you decided to take the two days to get to Corybantes?" She asked. "We could have been there in a few hours at standard by seven!"

"And walked into an ambush with the energy banks half-drained?" Diana responded. "I don't think so, darling! This speed is just right to get us where we're going and keep the banks nicely topped up."

"You're such a romantic!" Freya chuckled.

"Aren't I just?" Diana reached up to stroke Freyas' cheek. "I'm a Brit, you know. We're famous for not being romantic."

"So I hear." Freya told her. "Don't believe a word of it."

"Well, it did occur to me we could all do with a bit of a break." Diana allowed. "Spending time with you was definitely part of my plan."

"Mine too." Freya said. "Though I was a little worried that you had something going with Dave?"

"I might have," Diana admitted, "he's really sweet, when he isn't being a plonker. But Dave's asexual – not interested in anything like that, even romance."

"I thought they could treat that?" Freya replied.

Diana shook her head. "There's therapy for sociopaths and psychopaths, and options for transgender people have been around since the 20th Century. But there's still a small proportion of natural asexuals around. But Dave's a nonborn, and apparently it's part of his design."

"Bit young to be a nonborn." Freya observed.

"I know." Diana agreed. "He told me he was part of a cache of fertilised embryos hidden at the end of the Eugenics Wars. They were created by a fringe group who wanted to breed purely for intelligence, not physical superiority. When the government found them twenty-odd years ago, only a few were still viable. They analysed the genetic make-up, decided they were no threat and brought them to birth-ready, then had them adopted by suitable families. But it seems this particular group wanted to neutralise the sex urge because it can't be controlled. Daves' IQ is off any known chart, but he doesn't have a sex drive or the need to form that kind of relationship.

"How about you? Did Gerry or any of the others show an interest?"

It was Freyas' turn to shake her head. "The Chief's been married for like a hundred years, and he'd never cheat on her – lucky lady. Gerry? For all the six-pack and the good looks, he's a nerd to the core. I'm not his type and he's not mine. As for the Doc, he's a Vulcan. I know Humans and Vulcans are compatible in that way, but he doesn't seem interested and even if he was, he's too disciplined to do or say anything. He did tell me – I think he was trying to reassure me – that he was five years away from his next _pon farr_, whatever that is!"

"Vulcan mating cycle." Diana told her. "He said the same thing to me. Apparently Vulcans can have sex any time, but once every seven years they go into a hormone frenzy and _have _to mate, or it can be fatal."

"Um." Freya said. "I'm beginning to feel a little like that right now!"

She bent to Diana and kissed her. Gently at first, but then things got passionate.

XXXX

Synak, whose piloting skills were among the best Diana had seen, brought the _Vigilant _smoothly to sublight close to Corybantes Three, a small, dark planet not far outside the orbit of their destination.

"Dave?" Diana said.

"I have the colony." He replied. "About four hundred Tellarites, and maybe fifty...I can't tell what they are! Life forms, I think, but something is blocking the sensors, so I can't tell any more.

"Anyway, the Comms rig is still active, but there's something else plugged into it. Short range transmitter of some kind."

"I think we can assume that the ones Dave can't identify are Romulans." Freya said. "They may be using some kind of personal force-fields that block the sensors.

"What we should do is watch for a while. See if they have any kind of patterns they follow. Something that will give us an opening to get at the comms without having to take them all on."

"Alert!" Zen suddenly announced. "Hostile vessels approaching. Dropping to sublight ahead!"

Synak took the ship down and away at an angle as some kind of beam lanced through the spot where it had been.

"Romulans!" Dave barked. "One destroyer, two frigates, fifty smaller craft deploying now!"

"Jamming their comms." The Chief said. "They never got a squeak off. But that other signal is still being transmitted from the destroyer."

"Battle computers online." Zen declared.

"Target the small craft with Seeker missiles and launch!" Freya commanded. "Activate force wall, raise radiation flare shield and clear neutron blaster for firing!"

"Zen, give me cyber-warfare?" Dave asked. "I have an idea!"

Diana knew from his intense expression that any questions to Dave would elicit only a short - and probably obscene - response. At that point there were several flashes on the viewscreen.

"Seekers took out about half of the small craft." Freya reported. "The rest are trying to avoid them and take them down. Quite a furball out there!"

"As long as they keep them off us."Diana replied. "Doc, get us in close to that destroyer. Freya, as soon as you get a lock, hit it!"

"Hostiles are using crude phased plasma beams." Zen noted. "Relatively low output, but still dangerous. Energy banks at ninety per cent."

"I have a lock!" Freya announced. "Firing!"

The bridge lights dimmed for a moment as the _Vigilants_' main armament projected a green beam. The space around the Romulan destroyer lit up like a Christmas Tree, then went dark.

"Direct hit!" The Chief crowed. " Their shields are down!"

"Hit 'em again!" Diana barked.

Freya fired, but as she did so, one of the two frigates darted into the path of the beam. It was blown to fragments, but the destroyer was untouched.

"What the _fuck_?" Diana exclaimed, letting protocol go in the heat of the moment.

"Diana, they're concentrating fire on one part of the force wall!" Gerry told her. "They're not getting through, but it's draining the banks fast! Down to sixty per cent and falling!"

"Synak, roll the ship!" Diana ordered. "Spread the load!"

"The destroyer's recharging its' shields!" The Chief warned.

"Oh, smashing!" Diana snarled. "Anybody got any _good_ news?"

"Give me a minute, will you?" Dave snapped. "Got it! Zen, initiate cyber-warfare, _now_!"

For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Diana knew it was that long because her heart was currently in her mouth. Then the frigate stopped firing and hung dead in space. At the same time, several small but bright explosions took place at the location where the small craft had been fighting with the seeker missiles.

"Freya!" Diana shouted.

"Firing!" Was the response.

This time the beam slammed through the tattered Romulan shields and broke the destroyer in half. The two parts drifted away from one another, both burning.

Diana opened her mouth to congratulate everyone, but was interrupted.

"Energy build-up in both ships!" The Chief warned. "They're gonna blow!"

"Doc...!" Diana began, but Synak was already bringing the ship about and accelerating away.

The explosions were spectacular, and bounced the _Vigilant_ about a little, but not so much that Synak couldn't bring them smoothly into a stationary orbit in the shadow of Corybantes Three.

"Everyone OK?" Diana asked, getting a series of affirmatives. "Good. Gerry, what sort of shape are we in?"

"A little damage to the stern." The big midshipman reported. " Mostly from fragments. Self-repair has initiated, should be fine in an hour. Energy banks down to twenty per cent, but recharging. We should be back up to full in four to five hours. Everything else is nominal."

"Good." Diana said. "Did anyone on the planet see that lot, or hear it?"

"Negative." The Chief told her. "Corybantes Three was between the whole thing and the colony. The planet is pretty dense, so there isn't much that could have seen us. I'm not picking up any comms from the colony. No distress or hailing signals."

"Lucky old us!" Diana noted. "Dave, what the Hell did you do?"

"Well, I finally figured out what that odd signal from the capital ships was." Dave answered. "Those frigates, corvettes and fighters are all drones, unmanned. They're controlled from the bigger ships. Once I'd realised that, I was able to hack the system and shut the drones down. If I'd had more time, I would've been able to actually take control of at least some of them."

"Right, keep working on that." Diana told him. "If you can work out the coding, we can send that to the Coalition as well. You might just be the genius you keep telling everyone you are!

"Everybody, well done. I mean _really_ well done! You were all brilliant."

"Zen, can we leave you to look after things for a bit? I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm in dire need of a cup of tea!"

"Coffee." Dave replied. "And clean underwear!"

XXXXX

Diana wasn't surprised when the Chief pulled her aside into a small room.

"I know." She admitted. "I didn't act much like a captain. Truth be told, I don't feel like one!"

"Really?" Harrelson said. "Because I was about to say that not only did you act like a captain, but like a damn good one!

"Diana, the best captains don't bark out a stream of orders, or try to control every aspect of every situation. They trust their crews -that's what a crew is for!

"Back there on the bridge, you let us all get on with our jobs. You weren't constantly at us for reports, but when we had anything to say, you listened. You only gave the orders you needed to give, and relied on us to carry them out the best way we knew how.

"A captain is just the leader of a team, and the best captains know how to put a good team together, or make a crew into a team.

"Now if you can just get out of the habit of swearing on the bridge..."

There were drinks, there were sandwiches. There was little or no talk. People ate and drank slowly, relishing each sip and mouthful. Uncharacteristically, it was Synak who broke the silence.

"It appears some of my colleagues were misinformed, or merely ignorant. Apparently Humans can and do take time to savour the simple fact of existence."

"Somebody tell you different?" Gerry asked.

"Several people." Synak admitted. "There are still relatively few Vulcans who have had many dealings with Humans. The usual view is that you are never still, and that you rarely stop to think. That you rush about, driven by impulse, ambition, greed, rage, envy -any of dozens of emotions.

"They point to your progress. They agree that you have gone from discovering warp technology to building Warp Five ships in less than twenty years, when it took us two centuries. But then they point out the numerous accidents and lives lost in achieving this. Lives that would not have been lost if you had adopted a more measured approach. They call you reckless.

"But what I have seen today belies all that. Yes, you went into a battle a Vulcan might well have avoided. But this was not any kind of Berserk rage. It was weighing the chances of destruction against the greater danger of revealing our existence to all of the enemy. You each employed your skills in a measured and calm fashion.

"I begin to wonder whether it is Humans that are reckless, or my own people who are risk-averse."

Shortly after that, the group broke up for some rest. Diana went to her room and Freya followed her in. They held each other for a long time before Freya murmured. "So, girlfriend, we gonna get naked or what?"

XXXXX

"It's night down there." Dave reported. "Nobody moving about except a few Romulans - if these blobs are Romulans."

"Diana, I'm getting a transmission from the surface." The Chief said. "Not the main comms. Some kind of amateur rig, low-powered. If this ships' systems weren't so advanced I wouldn't be able to pick it up."

"Put it on speaker." Diana ordered.

The voice was a gravelly Tellarite one, speaking quietly but urgently. "Corybantes Colony to anyone out there. We need help. Can anyone hear me?"

"Patch me in." Diana said, then. "Corybantes Colony, this is Lieutenant Grassington, commanding starship _Vigilant_. Can we render assistance?"

"Humans?" Came the reply. "Well, that's something at least. Could have been Andorians. Listen, I can't stay on air for long. Can you get down here without being detected?"

"We can send a landing party, yes." Diana said. "But not a large one."

"Doesn't matter." The Tellarite replied. "I'll send some coordinates. Meet me there in an hour. Colony out."

"You trust him?" The Chief asked.

Diana nodded. "If the Romulans know we're here, they'd have sent another fleet. There're only fifty of them down there, and a ship this size would normally have a crew four times bigger than that and a full platoon of MACOs. More than enough to take the colony by assault, so they wouldn't risk letting anyone land.

"But I think this Tellarite is some kind of leader - he sounds like one. Also, they don't know about the Teleporter. If we get into any trouble, we can be yanked straight back.

"OK, Chief, Freya, Gerry, you're with me. Uniforms, please, and check weapons from the Teleport Room. Dave, you have the conn. Doc, you man the Teleport. Any sign of trouble, you pull us out, fast. Dave, I'm relying on you to monitor us!

"Let's get going!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Flight of the **_**Vigilant**_

Four: Acts of Sabotage

Two bright moons and a soft, warm breeze made the night on Corybantes Two rather pleasant. Not that anyone felt like a stroll. The experience of teleportation had been odd; first total, warm blackness, then cold whiteness for a second, then they were in a forest. There was the moment of disorientation that all space travellers feel when going from weeks or months in a closed environment to an open one.

Diana lifted the comm bracelet to her mouth and murmured "Down and safe.".

"Acknowledged." Synaks' reply was equally soft.

Then Freya pulled her weapon. "Nice and slow!" She ordered. "Keep your hands where I can see them!"

"Well hello to you, too!" It was the voice from the transmission, and belonged to a middle-aged Tellarite who advanced slowly into the clearing where the landing party waited.

"You're good." He said to Freya. "I'm told I'm pretty quiet in a wood.

"I'm Kron, headman of this colony."

"Lieutenant Grassington." Diana introduced herself. "Can you tell us what's happened here?"

"We got invaded, about two months ago." Kron said. "The Customs of Zav require the whole community to take the evening meal together. They must have figured that out and hit us with a wide-area stun. When we woke up those armoured bastards were all around us and we were all wearing these!"

He indicated a silvery metal collar round his neck. A steady green light glowed on the front of it.

"As long as the light stays green, I'm good. " He said. "If you wander too far from the tower, it turns yellow and you start to hurt. Neural induction, so I mean _really_ hurt! If you can stand to move any further, it turns red and blam! Shaped charges. Just enough to decapitate you!

"As well as that, the Romulan overseers can control the collars to hurt or kill you if you try anything. Like stopping working or something like that."

"So they are Romulans, then." Diana noted. "Why did they invade, do you know?"

"Supplies." Kron said. "This planet is fertile, we grow a lot of food. We used to trade it with other colonies, but these Romulans want it to supply their Star Empire. Apparently, we're being kept alive to work it until after they win the war, then they'll import their own people and we won't be necessary any more!"

"Charming!" Diana replied. "What do they look like?"

"Damned if I know!" Was the reply. "You never see them without their armour on!

"Can you help us?"

"Well, we have to try." Diana said. "We've got intel we need to get to Coalition Command, so we need your comms outfit, so we'll be helping each other."

"How many of you are there?" Kron asked. "Only since you're just a Lieutenant, and you said you're in command, it can't be a very big ship. No offence."

"None taken." Diana replied. "It's a long story, but there's only the four of us and two more up on our ship. So how many Romulans are there, and how do we take them out?"

"Oh, I've got a plan." Kron told her. "Until now, though, it couldn't work. Look, there are fifty-two Romulans here. Forty -six troopers, four comms operators, a Sub-Commander and a Commander. They work a two shift system.

"At night, twenty troopers guard and patrol the village. Three guard the Comms building which has two operators and the Sub-Commander. In the day, that switches over. Twenty troopers overseeing us while we work, three guards, two operators and the Commander in Comms.

"Now there are three hundred adult Tellarites here, and the only way they can control us is with these collars. The collars are controlled by a short-range transmitter near the comms array. It has to be shut down from the control room -try to sabotage or destroy it, and all the collars blow. But if the collars are switched off, we can take the guards in the fields, and have the others surrounded before they wake up.

"Now, you won't get into the control room by night -the village is crawling with Romulans. But in the day time, most of them are out in the fields watching us. Your people don't have collars, so they won't know you're here unless they see you. If you can take the control room quickly and quietly, you can shut our collars down. As soon as these lights go out, we'll be on them!"

"Sounds workable." Freya allowed. "Where's the comm building?"

"Far end of the village from the fields." Kron replied. "If you move east from here, around the village, you should come to the back of it in about an hour. Stay in the trees! The Romulans don't go into the woods, we told them there are some dangerous animals in here."

"Are there?" The Chief asked.

"You'll be OK as long as somebody in the group runs slower than you." Kron promised. "The Romulans keep two guards at the front of the Comms building, the third walks a beat around it.

"Now, I better get back. It'll be dawn in about four hours, and I need at least some sleep!

"Good luck!"

XXXX

Kron had been right about everything, Diana noted as, a few hours later, she watched the armoured guards round up the colonists and herd them into the fields. Now Freya was timing the slow patrol of the Romulan guard around the blocky Comms building. After the third round, she looked at Diana and nodded. Diana gestured her forward.

The guard, as far as anyone could tell, was tall and rangy. He carried a rifle-like weapon. Freya, however, was not disposed to challenge him directly. Emerging from the trees as he passed, she padded up behind him, silent as a cat, and grabbed his head. Her combat knife slipped up under the rim of his helmet, severing the spinal cord and piercing the brain. The Romulan went limp and she lowered him to the ground, before suddenly jumping back. A cloud of steam rose from every vent of the armour, followed by a hissing green sludge.

There was no time to wonder about it. Diana and the Chief went round one side of the building. Freya and Gerry the other. The unsuspecting guards were flanking the door, as expected. Now everything depended on how effective the alien weapons turned out to be.

The crystal rods blazed white light, there were shrill whines, and massive wounds were blown into the guards! Both fell, spraying blood that was Vulcan green, not human red. Then came the steam and the sludge again. But Gerry and the Chief were already moving, storming in through the open door as planned while Freya and Diana checked to see if any other enemy troops had been alerted. A voice shouted inside - deep, mechanically distorted and in an unknown language. A double blast from the alien weapons. The sound of a door being kicked open, then a cry of disgust from Gerry and an oath from the Chief, followed by a call of "Clear!"

'Clear' it seemed, was a relative term. The ante-room held a suit of armour in the middle of a spreading green pool. An elaborate badge on the armour marked it as belonging to a high-ranking officer. The main operations room was filled with an acidic smell that caught at the throat. In the chairs, two more suits of armour slumped, amid fetid pools of the now-familiar green sludge. Gerry was working on a control unit that had been installed along one wall. On the screen above it was a map of the surrounding area, populated with small dots of light that moved around. It was clearly of a quite different technology from the Tellarite comms outfit.

"OK, OK." Gerry was saying. "Now if I were the main power switch, which one would I be? Gotcha!"

The map-screen went dark and the lights on the console blinked out.

"That should have taken care of the collars." Gerry said.

"Then we need to get out there!" Diana said. "The colonists have numbers, but no weapons, they'll need our help!"

"Wouldn't bet on that." The Chief commented as they followed her out. "I've seen Tellarites fight!"

There was some distance to cover -the colony buildings were well spaced out and not too close to the fields. Diana led them toward a large building near the edge of a field. It was clearly not a colony building, but some kind of pre-fabricated structure.

"Romulan barracks, I'd guess." She explained as they went. "If we can stop the other troops reinforcing the overseers..."

But before they were in range. Romulan troops began to scramble out of the barracks. The StarFleet group scattered and took cover before they could be spotted. The Romulans formed into a circle, with a figure in the centre who was speaking urgently but apparently getting no responses.

The field nearest the barracks was growing some kind of cereal crop, with thick stalks some two and a half metres tall. From among these came a sudden volley of weapons fire that put half the Romulan troops down on the spot. The remainder all turned their attention to the field, trying in vain to find targets among the dense crop. On Dianas' command, her group opened fire from the flank, dropping several more, whereupon another withering volley from the field finished the job!

Cautiously, captured weapons ready, Kron and his people advanced out of the field. Diana and her crew stood up also. Kron waved, issued some instructions to his people, then came over.

"Nice work!" He said. "You can always rely on humans!"

"Are you and your people OK?" Diana asked.

"Better than I hoped!" Kron allowed. "Only two dead and no serious injuries."

"You seem to like humans." The Chief remarked.

Kron shrugged. "Colony planet I was born on turned out to be unstable. Most of our people got off, but my father wouldn't budge until it was too late and we missed the evac ships. There was a beacon at the spaceport we managed to activate, and it was answered by a human freighter. It was an old Warp Two job hauling machine parts, but they took a three-month detour to drop us at the nearest Tellarite colony. They treated us kindly, made friends with us and didn't seem to mind the fact that we Tellarites like to argue. I've had other dealing with humans since -you're honest, you bargain hard but fair, and you have a sense of humour. More than can be said for Vulcans or Andorians!"

XXXXX

"All done!" Dave said, coming out of the Comms building. "I sent the message as a compressed data burst, high-level encrypted, so even if the Romulans intercept it, it should take 'em a while to translate it.

"I also took a look at that goop that's all over the floor. A very powerful organic acid, by the look of it. Dissolved the bodies completely. Whoever they are, they _really_ don't want anyone finding out what they look like!"

"I don't think it's that, Dave." Freya told him. "I think they just don't want us to autopsy any bodies. If we find out their metabolism and body chemistry, we could develop chemical or bio-weapons to use on them."

"Bit extreme, but it makes sense." Diana noted. "Kron, what will your people do now?"

The Tellarite grinned. "Head for the back-country!" He said. "We've got all those Romulan weapons, plus a few of our own, and we know the forests and hills. Sooner or later, they're going to come back here, if only to find out what happened to their men. We intend to make this place a bit uncomfortable for them when they do!"

"Good luck!" Diana said.

"Same to you, and thanks!" Kron replied.

They shook hands, then the StarFleet party returned to their ship.

"We need to get out of here." Diana said once they were back on the bridge. "Question is, where next?"

"Got an idea." Dave said. "I took a bit of time to analyse the Romulan communications. It seems there's a beacon relay on an asteroid in a system a few days away from here. Technically, it's in Romulan space, so there's only a light guard on it. It's important though, because that's where Romulan fleets go first to get co-ordinates for the staging posts like the one we saw."

"These people must be really paranoid!" The Chief said. "Why not just tell the captains where to go in the first place?"

"Logically," Synak said, "it implies that the Romulans have, to some degree, penetrated the Coalition. Only a government who employs many spies themselves would be so concerned about spies within their own ranks. Either that, or Romulan society is not as united as they would like us to think? Being sparing with information, and distributing it only if and when needed, is a common trait of totalitarian states, and such states often have as many internal as external enemies."

"Nothing like a little Vulcan logic to brighten your day!" Dave remarked.

"I do try to be of service." Synak replied.

"OK, well whatever the political situation in this Romulan Empire is, as far as I'm concerned, they're at war with us, and that beacon relay is a legitimate target." Diana said.

"And we have weapons designed to demolish asteroids!" Gerry pointed out.

"We will need to move quickly." Zen put in. "My calculations have revealed to location of the next wormhole back to my quadrant, and it will open in four days. We will need to reach it with sufficient power to pass through."

"OK." Diana said. "We've got one shot, so let's make it a good one. Dave, put the coordinates for the asteroid into the navigation computers. Zen, standard by ten!

"Let's get going!"

XXXXX

Warp Ten was known to Vulcan scientists as the 'Trans-Warp Barrier'. Theoretically, such a speed was impossible to reach, or sustain, without a significant revolution in propulsion systems. The _Vigilant_, however, seemed to be sustaining it just fine, with the result that they were approaching the asteroid within the hour.

"What have we got, Dave?" Diana asked.

"Three frigates, all carrying fighters and controlled from the asteroid." Dave replied. "Installation on the asteroid has five life-forms."

"Gerry, what's our status?"

"Energy banks at sixty-five per cent. We don't want to be hanging around!"

"Too right! Freya?"

"Locked and loaded, but the missile isn't long-range. We have to get within a hundred kilometres."

"OK. Zen, slow to attack speed, battle computers online, activate force wall. Dave, can you do your thing with the frigates?"

"Cyber warfare online!" Dave replied.

"Commence attack run." Diana ordered. "Freya, fire at will!"

"Poor Will, nobody likes him!" The Chief commented.

The _Vigilant_ came in fast, heading straight for the target. The enemy frigates reacted just as fast, but only one got off a shot, grazing the force-wall, before Daves' jamming signal rendered them inert. The asteroid bloomed in the viewscreen, then Freya called "Fox Three! Missile away!"

Synak immediately put the ship into a steep climb, pushing the throttle to maximum sublight.

"Missile bored in." Zen reported. "Detonation in five, four, three, two, one."

Explosions in space are bright, perfectly spherical and silent, but they push a shockwave ahead of them. Fortunately, the Vigilant was far enough away so that all they experienced was a slight judder.

"Zen, get us the Hell out of here!" Diana barked. "Before somebody comes to investigate that bang!"

It took only a short burst at standard by ten to get them into a friendly ion storm. The storm bothered the _Vigilant_ not at all, but would play havoc with the systems of any other ship.

"OK, everyone, downtime!" Diana ordered. "Zen, charge up and then head for your wormhole location at best speed."

XXXXX

Four days, four busy days. There were no more hostile encounters, as they were heading into one of those areas where space was empty of stars and planets alike. But there was plenty to do.

Gerry and Dave spent a lot of time in the shuttle bay, working on the old shuttle, getting it ready for the journey back home. They had, they said, a plan -one Zen was helping them with. But they wouldn't say any more than that "Just in case."

Dr Synak took the time to perform, with Zen's permission, an autopsy on one of the original crew members, whose bodies he had placed in stasis in the sickbay.

"These individuals bear a certain resemblance to humans, in that they have an iron-based blood chemistry. Their general appearance is also not unlike tha human." He reported. "However, their skeletal structure is more cartilaginous than bony, rendering them less sturdy, but more flexible. The musculature also follows this pattern.

"The dentition and digestive system is consistent with that of an omnivorous species, also like humans. However, they possess gills, and their lungs have a closing valve which would allow them to act as a swim bladder to maintain neutral buoyancy. This indicates that at least some of their life is spent underwater.

"More importantly, these individuals have all undergone extensive cybernetic modification. The bulk of it seems to be designed to facilitate wireless communication and data transmission between each other and external systems, but there are also what I can only deduce are enhancements to certain areas of the brain and sense organs. The aim seems to have been to create individuals who are adept at communication and learning.

"Unfortunately, these cybernetics seem to be vulnerable to a certain type of radiation. As normal background radiation, it is harmless, but Zens' sensor logs show that it was particularly intense in the wormhole environment. It does no direct harm to organic tissue, but the damage it did to the cybernetics caused them to overheat to a degree that proved fatal to the crew."

"Ouch!" Dave observed.

"Quite." Synak replied. "I have shared my findings with Zen, who is sure that the System will find an appropriate counter-measure in case another such accident should occur."

The Chief spent as much time as he could either sleeping or reading -there was plenty in the ships' library computer, and Zens' translation programming was more than adequate. He also took time to debrief Diana, Gerry and Dave and give off-the-cuff performance assessments. "You're still in training!" He told them.

Diana spent the time updating her personal log and preparing the report she knew StarFleet would want. She was fairly sure that her failure to secure this unique vessel for StarFleet was going to put a big drag on her career prospects. But at the same time, many in the Coalition and the Fleet itself were pushing for Admiral Archers' idea of a Prime Directive of non-interference. If she got the right people looking at her report, she might get some support for her actions. At least enough not to get her fired. She'd rather face years as a Yeoman than the line of chinless, dim-witted, horse-mad prospective husbands her mother would immediately whistle up if Diana had to go home!

Freya, meanwhile, had found some art supplies, and had set about painting a number of bold, bright, but not tremendously well-executed, pictures. "I love to paint." She told Diana. "But I don't have the patience for details, so I just splat the colours on!"

In between times, there was a good deal of sitting together, shooting the breeze and listening to the Chiefs' tall tales. Somewhere in there, Diana and Freya managed to find time for each other, as well.

It was on the third day that Gerry and Dave sprang their surprise.

"We managed to jury-rig a warp drive for the shuttle." Gerry explained. "We didn't want to say anything until now, because we weren't sure we'd be able to do it!"

"But we did!" Dave exulted. "We bolted the nacelles on to the hull, and the Core itself is in the cargo hold. It isn't very stable, but we figure it'll give us Warp Six for about a day. Time enough to get to Earth, or at least to within a day of Earth at light speed!"

"I see," Diana said. "Well done, lads!"

"Couldn't have done it without Zen." Gerry allowed. "He helped with the calculations, and he's the only one who has a full inventory of what this ship carries. Lucky for us, there were some dilithium crystals and just enough anti-matter."

"I love it when a plan comes together!" Dave seemed to be quoting something. Then he sobered. "Have to tell you, though, once this drive goes offline, we'll have a very short time to ditch the core before it blows!"

"Oh, lovely!" Diana said. "Always a catch, isn't there?

"Still, well done, you two. Ready to launch tomorrow?"

"Ready as we'll ever be!"

XXXX

Saying goodbye to a computer was an odd experience. Though he only spoke when addressed, or when he had something specific to say, Zen had been a constant presence over the last few days, and had gone through some hairy times with them.

As per Zens' request, Diana had had to order him to go through the wormhole, as it was too risky a venture for the limited AI to undertake without crew instructions. But then she couldn't resist saying.

"Thanks for everything, Zen. You didn't have to help, but you did and we won't forget that! Take care of yourself."

"You have helped me as much as I have helped you, Lieutenant." Zen replied. "It has been an honour to serve with you, all of you. You should also take care of yourselves and each other."

"I hate the idea of sending you through there on your own!" Diana fretted. "You don't know where in your quadrant you might come out, and I don't want to think of you just hanging there in space until somebody finds you. What if they don't?"

"He will not be on his own." Synak said. "Zen and I agreed last night that I would accompany him back to his own quadrant."

"Don't you want to get home, Doc?" Gerry asked.

"To what end and purpose?" Synak replied. "I am a younger son. My older brother will inherit the family estate and care for my parents in age. My parents will be absolved of the necessity of finding a bride for a son with no more than average prospects. The Vulcan High Council would doubtless assign me to a starship or starbase for the duration of this conflict, then send me to a remote colony again.

"But the last few days have given me a taste for something a little more..._bracing_...than ordinary medical practice. I also find myself curious as to this System and the peoples it interacts with. Zen assures me that I will be welcomed and supported, as much for what I can teach as well as learn.

"Therefore, since I have no knowledge of any strategic or military importance, and since I am a Vulcan civilian and therefore not legally under your authority, Lieutenant, I have decided to go with the ship. Here are two messages, one to the High Council, and one to my family. I trust you to see them delivered, Diana."

Diana caught the Chiefs' eye, and he nodded, confirming what she'd already decided.

"It's your life, Synak." She said. "I suppose if I wasn't a StarFleet officer, I'd want to do the same, so I can't blame you!

"Good luck, we won't forget you!"

There was agreement from the rest of the crew. Synak stepped back and gave them all the Vulcan salute so many humans had difficulty with.

"Live long and prosper." He told them. "And now you had best get to your shuttle. The wormhole will open soon, and you will need to be in warp and out of range before it does."

XXXXX

The makeshift warp core in the shuttle hold hummed, and occasionally chirped and burbled, in a cheerful sort of way, as it pushed them along. The shuttle itself made noises that were rather less sanguine, and the groans, rattles and pops grew longer, louder and more insistent as the day wore on.

"You sure this crate will hold together?" Freya asked. "It wasn't designed for warp speed!"

"Technically it wasn't." Gerry allowed. "But you know StarFleet Engineering! The structural integrity specs for this class of shuttle are way beyond what's needed for light-speed. Plus Dave and I reinforced the hull with some of the herculaneum alloy the ship was made from. We'll make it!"

Precisely twenty-four hours after they had gone into warp, they dropped out. Diana had gone aft to supervise the ejection of the core when she heard Dave, who was piloting, shout "Holy shit!".

She dashed back forward, to see that they had dropped out of warp, as expected, about one light-day outside the Sol system. But they were behind a massive Romulan fleet. A close-packed wall of cruisers and destroyers, each surrounded with it's own mini-fleet of drone ships. Behind the wall hung a huge battleship, four times the size of anything Diana had ever seen.

"I have the ship!" She said, dropping into the other pilot seat. "Get on sensors. I need a sitrep, fast!"

"Diana!" Gerry called. "We don't have long before this core blows!"

"Hang on!" Diana told him. "We need to know if there's anywhere we can go, first!"

"OK." Dave said. "There's a Coalition fleet on the other side of that wall, mostly UE but some Vulcan and Andorian ships. Our guys are better armed and shielded, but they don't have the numbers to get past that wall. That Romulan dreadnought can see everything, and it's directing the rest of the fleet."

"So if it goes, the commanders of the smaller ships won't be able to coordinate too well." Diana said. "OK. Gerry, drop the nacelles, release the clamps and cables on the core, but leave the rear force field on!"

She pulled the throttle wide open. With the extra weight of the core, the shuttle wouldn't make full speed, but she didn't need it to. Not yet.

"Di, what are you doing?" Dave asked uneasily.

"If that core is going to blow, I want it to blow somewhere useful!" Diana gritted. "Hang on!"

She was taking the shuttle so close to the dreadnought that she would almost graze their shields. Her main hope was that every eye and sensor on the ship would be trained on the battle ahead. The fact that they weren't already dead told her that any Romulan rearguard or pickets had been well behind them when they exited subspace.

It was a gamble that paid off. Gerry was becoming more insistent as the humming of the overloading core rose to a scream. About halfway along the length of the big ship, Diana called:

"Drop the shield!"

"Bombs away!" Freya yelled.

What Diana had hoped for, happened. Explosive decompression of the hold sucked the core out, but not too far. Free of the extra mass, the shuttle leapt forward like a gazelle and hit light speed in seconds. A larger vessel couldn't have done it, but the shuttle slipped through the gaps between Romulan ships, and before the enemy could vector their fighters in, the universe went white.

A matter-anti-matter explosion is one of the most powerfully destructive forces in the universe. Vast amounts of energy, across the entire spectrum, expanding outward from ground zero at the speed of light. The Romulan dreadnought was annihilated, fragments flying in all directions at near-light speed. Inevitably, many of them slammed into the remaining ships of the fleet, doing immense damage. Then the shockwave reached them, shredding the close formation and sending ships crashing into one another. The shuttle, already at light speed, was pushed even faster by the expanding shockwave, staying just far enough ahead to escape destruction.

Then it was over. Dave shook his head.

"We're still here!" He said. "I was wondering what the last thing to go through my head would be!"

"If I can't slow us down, it'll be your arsehole!" Diana growled, applying full reverse thrust.

It was a tense few minutes, but eventually the shuttle began to slow. Then, with a cough and a hiss, the engines finally gave out, and they were adrift.

"Well, that's all this old girls' got to give!" Diana noted. "Now what!"

"Distress beacon activated." Dave told her. "You're completely insane, you know that?"

"Been hanging with you too long." She answered. "Must be catching."

Then the shadow of an NX-class ship was looming over them, and the comms crackled into life.

"_Vigilant _shuttle, this is UES _Co__lumbia_. We have you in our tractor beam. Welcome home."

XXXXX

Admiral Archers' long, mobile face was stern, but the expression failed to hide the distinct twinkle in his eye. Ambassador Soval, being a Vulcan, was impassive.

"This is quite the report, ladies and gentlemen." Archer said. "The crew of the _Vigilant_ will be listed as Killed in Action, and commendations will be recorded against their names.

"I have to admit that a few of our people are livid about the fact that you failed to deliver the alien ship and its technology to us. However, they have had to accept that you had neither the skills nor the time to override any security measures the original owners had built in. That would've needed a full salvage crew."

"It is the view of the High Council, supported by the Vulcan Academy, that the presence of an Artificial Intelligence, however limited, on that ship rendered it potentially more dangerous than useful." Soval added. "So perhaps it was for the best."

"Most of us, however, are impressed." Archer continued. "Impressed that you managed to make a deal with the AI, and even more so by the use you made of the limited time you had. Your actions on Corybantes Two not only allowed us to prepare for the Romulans' main assault, but have also given us a tactical advantage in the shape of Mr Brockmans' cyber-warfare program. It has also made a very good impression with the Tellarites, who intend to institute a new honour for non-Tellarites who have done them a signal service. An honour of which you will be the first recipients.

"Also, when you destroyed that relay, you scrambled Romulan communications across a whole sector. As a result, the fleet attacking Vulcan was a lot smaller than it should have been.

"Finally, your action in the battle three days ago changed what would have been a drawn-out fight into basically a mopping-up operation, allowing us to spare half our fleet to assist the Andorians. It was also reckless in the extreme."

"It was something you might have done, Admiral." Soval commented dryly, bringing a wry grin to Archers' face. The Vulcan continued. "In the matter of Dr Synak, I find myself in complete agreement with both his decision and yours. Upon examining his background, I see that logic is not always followed as well as it might be, even by Vulcans. Synaks' father is what humans might call a 'gentleman farmer', owner of a large estate. His mother is a doctor. For some of us tradition goes before logic, so Synaks' brother was trained to manage the estates, while the parents insisted their younger son follow his mother into the medical profession. As a physician, he is competent, but no more, but you yourselves gave evidence to his instinctive brilliance as a pilot. It is my opinion that he will find much greater fulfilment of his potential on the path he has chosen. A situation with which I have no doubt Miss Grassington has some empathy."

"Finally," Archer said, "these are the recommendation of the Board of Enquiry. Each of you will receive a commendation for your actions in battle and behind enemy lines.

"Midshipman Baker, you are promoted forthwith to the rank of Ensign and will resume your training in Engineering Branch at StarFleet Academy at the start of next semester. Should you perform as well as you have so far, you will begin your first full tour with the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade.

"Ensign Brockman, you are promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and will be assigned as Science Officer to the _Mary Rose_.

"Chief Harrelson, you are being reassigned as a Senior Instructor on the NCOs course at the Academy. I believe Mrs Harrelson is looking forward to having you at home every night from now on!

"Corporal Tomori, you are promoted with immediate effect to the rank of Gunnery Sergeant, and will receive your new assignment in due course.

"Lieutenant Grassington, you have shown yourself -according to reports filed by Chief Harrelson and your other crewmates - to be a cool-headed leader and excellent team-builder. Reports filed by you instructors and late Captain describe you as a quick study, a sure hand with personnel, tactically sound if unconventional and occasionally a royal pain in the ass! You are most definitely not risk-averse.

"All this, in the view of the Board, makes you an excellent prospect for command. Therefore your are hereby promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and will join the crew of the NX-26 _Liberator_ as operations officer.

"For now, you all have two weeks leave, so get out of here!"

As they left the building, Freya came closer to Diana and took her hand.

"Hey, there, Commander!" She said.

"Hey, yourself, Gunny!" Diana replied.

"I know a nice little restaurant where we can celebrate." Freya suggested.

"Sounds lovely!" Diana told her. "But I think we should go to my flat first and work up an appetite!"

Epilogue

"What do we have, Mr Data?" Picard asked.

"Unknown sir." Replied the android matter-of-factly. "The ship does not match any known configuration. Their power-source and propulsion systems are unlike anything on the database."

The first fact Picard could see for himself. The ship was as large as the _Enterprise_ \- a cylindrical main hull with two sets of three equidistant nacelles placed along it, tapering to a point at the stern, which glowed with a green light.

"The ship seems to be equipped with advanced weaponry and shields." Worf rumbled from behind him. "But those systems are not currently active.

"Sir, we are being hailed!"

"On screen, Mr Worf."

The figure was humanlike, and female, but very tall and slender, with a wealth of blonde hair and thin but not unattractive features. One eye was a vivid green, the other silver and clearly artificial. her voice was also clear, but held odd undertones that made Picard think of water.

"I am Core-Alta Terala of the System Galactic Exploration Vessel One. Do you represent United Earth, or the Coalition of Planets?" She asked.

"Both of those bodies have long since ceased to exist." He replied. "I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets starship _USS Enterprise_. What can we do for you?"

Terala nodded. "He told us there would have been changes." She said. "Captain Picard, I greet you and the peoples of your Federation on behalf of the System. We come with the purpose of extending friendship, exchanging knowledge, trade and to bring an old and honoured friend home to spend his last days on his birth-world."

The view panned to one side to show an aged, gaunt but still upright Vulcan man.

"Captain Picard?" He said. "You probably will not have heard of me. My name is Synak."


End file.
